TerraSAR-X Data for High-Precision Land Subsidence Monitoring: A Case Study in the Historical Centre of Hanoi, Vietnam

In this study, subsidence patterns in the Historical Centre of Hanoi, Vietnam are mapped using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique, with particular emphasis on the stability of ancient monuments, historical buildings and archaeological sectors. Due to the small and scattered characteristics of these structures, not only is a comprehensive coverage of radar targets needed, but also the details of a single building or monument. We took advantage of the high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery with the aid of oversampling implementation on the Small Baseline (SB) InSAR approach to reveal the subsidence patterns. A total of 6.29 million radar targets were obtained, maintaining the average density of 217,012 points/km2. Our results suggest that image oversampling not only increased the number of measurement points 4.4 times more than the standard processing chain, but also removed some of the noisiest points. The observed subsidence patterns are mostly related to adjacent groundwater extraction and construction activities, with maximum subsiding rate reaching −18.1 mm/year for the study period April 2012 to November 2013. Generally, heritage assets and monuments in the Citadel, the Old Quarter and French Quarter remain in a steady state, whereas those located along the Red River and in southern Hanoi are subject to subsidence